Galaxy S26 Ultra's chipset info spotted in One UI code, and it's not surprising
TL;DR A new report has confirmed that Samsung will continue to rely on Qualcomm for its next Ultra smartphone.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra is confirmed to be powered by a Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, based on evidence found in the device's firmware.
This does not rule out the existence of an S26 Ultra powered by an Exynos 2600 or a Samsung-made Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, despite lean chances of any of that happening.
Phone brands these days don't do a very good job of containing confidential information about upcoming devices. Samsung isn't immune to this problem either, and many tidbits of its yet-to-release Galaxy S26 series are already public knowledge. Earlier today, we learned about internal codenames for the upcoming Galaxy S26 devices that indicate the likelihood of a lineup rejig. Now, a new leak has confirmed the chipset (or at least, one of the chipsets) that will power the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Folks at SamMobile claim to have gotten access to the One UI firmware that will come preinstalled on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. From the firmware file, the team has deciphered the presence of a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset at the helm. This chipset is most likely a Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, as suggested by the mentions of 'qcom' and 'PMK8850' in the source code.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 has long been rumored to be associated with an identifier 'SM8850,' which is especially plausible since the Snapdragon 8 Elite is codenamed 'SM8750.' However, the use of 'PMK' in the codename could highlight the special 'For Galaxy' variant of the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2.
While Samsung's choice of chipset was already expected, the evidence from One UI's code corroborates the assumption. However, it does not rule out the presence of an Exynos 2600-powered Galaxy S6 Ultra — even without ample historical evidence to support it. Notably, Samsung hasn't entirely relinquished the Exynos 2600, and its decision to equip the Galaxy Flip 7 with an Exynos 2500 globally backs the possibility of the newer Exynos powering more flagship devices next year.
Another recent report spoke of Samsung's plans to address the longstanding problem of heating on Exynos chips by reconfiguring the design.
Additionally, speculations from earlier this month have indicated that Samsung will use a variant of the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 manufactured by TSMC for its Galaxy S26. However, it is also developing a cheaper variant of the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 on a smaller 2nm fab, but could reserve its stocks for selling to other vendors like Xiaomi, OnePlus, and other Chinese manufacturers that aim for more competitive prices for their smartphones.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is shaping up to be Samsung's most upgraded phone in recent years, which is every bit new compared to the Galaxy S25 Ultra, except in terms of its battery capacity.
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